Apologies in advance chaps, as the paper thread over the next four weeks is going to be a bit hit & miss.I'm starting a course of radiotherapy tomorrow, and as the treatment times are all over the place there may be days when I won't be able to do it at all.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho wants a big pay rise if he is to sign a new contract. (Guardian)

Shakhtar Donetsk boss Paulo Fonseca says he wants to work in the Premier League, which could prompt renewed interest from Everton. (Daily Telegraph)

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino would be willing to sign a 15-year contract with the north London club. (London Evening Standard)

Paris St-Germain striker Edinson Cavani, 30, has targeted a move to Manchester City after an on-field disagreement with Neymar has led to uncertainty about the Uruguay international's future. (Don Balon, via Manchester Evening News)

Chelsea left-back Marcos Alonso, 26, is a potential target for Barcelona. The former Real Madrid player is being considered as a long-term replacement for Jordi Alba, 28. (Daily Mail)

Meanwhile...

Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, formerly of Arsenal, says he would like to become an interior designer after he retires. (Independent)

Chelsea wing-back Victor Moses is set to miss four weeks with a hamstring injury. (Daily Telegraph)

Former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal says his successor Jose Mourinho is a "very sympathetic guy" but still has reservations over the way in which he was replaced. (ESPN, via Ziggo Sport)

Paris St-Germain will pay Brazilian forward Neymar three million euros (£2.67m) if he wins the Ballon d'Or. (Le Parisien - in French)

Former Arsenal winger Marc Overmars, who is director of football at Ajax, is to return to the Gunners and take up the same position. (Daily Star)

Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata, 29, rejected a reported £375,000-a-week after tax to move to the Chinese Super League. (Sun)

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was involved in an angry exchange with referee Neil Swarbrick after his side's 2-1 defeat by Watford and could be charged by the Football Association. (Evening Standard)

RB Leipzig would never have sold Naby Keita to Liverpool had it not been for his release clause, the German club have confirmed. Keita, 22, will move to Anfield next summer after the Reds agreed to pay a premium on top of the 22-year-old's £48m release fee, which comes into effect at the end of this campaign. (Liverpool Echo)

Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal are tracking Barcelona's highly-regarded 17-year-old B team forward Abel Ruiz, who has a £3m release clause in his contract. (Daily Mirror)

Guardian Rumour Mill

Lawrence Ostlere

Having spent their Saturday afternoon fruitlessly beating fists against José Mourinho’s brick wall, Liverpool reckon some fresh cut and thrust is in order. The man on Jürgen Klopp’s radar is Sheffield United’s rising star David Brooks, the 20-year-old winger who has been lighting up the Championship. Blades manager Chris Wilder says Brooks – who has played for England and Wales at youth level – is not for sale, but that is not going to stop Liverpool pitching up at Bramall Lane in January with £10m.

Arsenal have made their peace with losing Mesut Özil, possibly in January to Internazionale, as well as Alexis Sánchez next summer. They will look to Milan’s 21-year-old attacking talent André Silva as a replacement and have also got their eye on Barcelona’s 17-year-old wonderkid Abel Ruiz, who has a temping £3m release clause. Barça are keen to tie him to a new deal with a more appropriate price tag, but the Gunners are at the front of a queue of clubs eyeing a bargain.

However, a more pressing concern at the Camp Nou is finding a new left-back after a dip in Jordi Alba’s form. Marcos Alonso has caught Barcelona’s attention with some impressive performances for Chelsea and a lavish head of hair Alba could only dream of. He is a Real Madrid boy but Barça are hopeful that wads of cash will smooth that particular bump.

Real Madrid face Tottenham in a Champions League tie at the Bernabéu on Tuesday evening and emperor Florentino Perez will be watching. He will command the purchase of Harry Kane as his new plaything for £150m next summer, should he be suitably impressed with what he sees.

If you thought Manchester City were done spending, think again. Fernandinho and Yaya Touré are both out of contract next summer, and rather than offer them new deals Pep Guardiola fancies splashing out on Borussia Dortmund’s 22-year-old holding midfielder Julian Weigl, one of the most sought-after players in Europe.

Swansea are set to sign the Slovenian left-back and free agent Matic Paljk who has impressed on trial at the club, West Brom want to tie Jonny Evans to a new deal to ward off any January interest from the Premier League’s big fish, and Rafa Benítez wants Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun to lead Newcastle’s line.

In managerial news, Carlo Ancelotti is confident of returning to Juventus and will turn down offers from Milan and Italy to make it happen.

Mirror

Liverpool chasing transfer of Sheffield United wonderkid David Brooks but face competition from Arsenal

Newcastle and West Ham are also keeping tabs on Brooks' progress after his impressive start to the season

Bill Cooper

Liverpool are heading the queue of Premier League big guns hoping to prise exciting young midfielder David Brooks away from Sheffield United.

Kop boss Jurgen Klopp has been monitoring the 20-year-old’s form since the start of the season, and is planning to tempt the Blades with a £10million bid in the January transfer window.

Arsenal, Newcastle and West Ham are also tracking Brooks, who earned a call-up by Wales for their recent World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and the Republic of Ireland.

Since making his United debut against Leicester under-23’s in an EFL Cup clash 14 months ago, it has taken Brooks just 15 outings to establish himself as one of English football’s hottest young properties.

Blades boss Chris Wilder will fight to keep Brooks at Bramall Lane, and insists the Warrington-born starlet has a crucial part to play in his Championship high-fliers’ bid to win promotion back to the Premier League after an absence of 11 seasons.

Wilder declared: ”We are building something here and, of course, there will be casualties along the way. But David won’t be going anywhere in January.”

OS

Reid: We have to beat Brighton on Friday night

It is a little early in the season to tag games as ‘must-win’, but Winston Reid says West Ham United ‘have’ to defeat Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday evening.

Reid and centre-half partner Jose Fonte were left frustrated after a late Chris Wood equaliser denied them a welcome Premier League victory at Burnley on Saturday.

The Hammers had taken the lead before being reduced to ten men before the half-hour mark by Andy Carroll’s red card, but looked like holding onto their advantage thanks to a resilient defensive display at Turf Moor.

However, Wood’s header from Johan Berg Gudmundsson’s pinpoint right-wing cross meant West Ham travelled back down south with one point rather than three, placing even more importance on Friday’s London Stadium date with the newly-promoted Seagulls.

“We would have liked to have kept another clean sheet, but it didn’t quite pan out that way,” Reid observed. “We will look to bounce back next week, we have a game against Brighton on Friday night and we have to win that game.

“They have had a good start to the season, but for me personally we have better players than them and that is no disrespect to Burnley.

“We had a very poor first three games and we have had some injuries, but we have got just about all our injured players back now and you could see there are good players that can’t even get on to the bench.

“Hopefully we will do well this season, but we need to start picking up some more wins so that we can get further up the table.”

Reflecting on Saturday’s draw in more depth, Reid felt West Ham were good value for the advantage given to them by Michail Antonio’s 19th-minute goal, but admitted the ten men had grown tired as the final whistle approached.

“I think when you concede with five minutes to go it feels like a defeat, but it was a good ball in. It is difficult for us to defend against Chris. It was a good ball in and he has a pretty easy header in to the net.

“It was disappointing to concede that late, but under the circumstances of how the game panned out, we would have liked to have held on, but I guess a point away from home is a pretty good outcome.

“I think we knew that we had to be solid. We knew that they would have a lot of possession and that they would try and get crosses in and be a threat, but I thought we dealt with it as best as we could.

“We had a couple of chances, especially at the start of the second half. We got a little bit tired towards the end of the game

“So, all in all, we are getting better. I think the football we played at the start of the match was really good and if we had eleven players on the pitch [for the whole 90 minutes] we would have ultimately won the game.”

Sorry to hear that Alan, You've hit the nail on the head... I always feel the worst thing about any illness is the amount of time that gets sucked away just 'getting better'. Hope all goes well for you buddy.

Can't you fix yourself up with a secretary for a few weeks..? (Link to secretary is mandatory, natch).